


Wo Ladka

by Superpeace



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Blame Andhadhun for this, Guilt, M/M, Song fic, fated meeting, forgiveness and reunion, making the movie more angsty than it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23344378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superpeace/pseuds/Superpeace
Summary: Kartik leaves the Tripathi household without finding Kusum's letter. They meet again in different circumstances, but are their feelings changed?
Relationships: Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	Wo Ladka

Aman Tripathi is all what parents want. So invested in work after studying, albeit a little late, that time that his parents would never want anyone to remind them of because it was what one would call, a phase. Keshav would say, “nai taiya jee, yeh phase nai hai” , but time has passed and husband and father of a loving wife and two children, Keshav wouldn’t talk back to his Taiya jee, not when he knows they wouldn’t understand. Par chalo, this isn’t about Keshav so without wasting words let’s go to our case.

  
 **Data:**  
Name: Aman Tripathi,  
Age: 32  
Occupation: Engineer working in a 9 to 5 government job  
Hobby: Lecturing his subordinates on their incapability and drinking an unholy amount of coffee

  
A very normal, yet extremely bitter specimen, if you will, but the catch is that he isn’t happy with this life and is trying to settle in London. Again it’s normal, chalo Aman is trying to run from this against his family’s wishes, the same family whom he loves to death.

  
His parents asked him to settle down, even implored him to get married and have kids, but he was none the wiser. One fine day in the Tripathi household a young Aman said, “Papa nai karni mainey shaadi abhi, aap logon nai bhi mazaq banaya hua hai, jab dekho shaadi, shaadi, shaadi. Parhney dou aaplog mujhe, mai apny career pey dehan dena chahta hun, marzi tou waisy bhi nai krskta apni, magar shaadi bhi nai karun ga, dekh lo aap log, yehi aik raasta hai”.

  
Sunaina Tripathi was the happiest and saddest that day; she knows how tired and hopeless her child has gone, but it was better than making someone else suffer with him for the rest of their lives like they did. It was like hunting two preys with one arrow, the birds may die but it was a necessary sacrifice to make in her eyes.

  
. From that day Aman worked hard and dedicated all his time and attention to studies, then got a job, and buried himself in work. As people around him would say, he looked as if he lost his soul.

  
From Allahabad to Lucknow to Bombay, climbing up the steady stairs of success, Aman was finally going to London. It was an opportunity, nothing else, and it felt the same, but to Aman whose family had called him every time, in happiness or sadness, or asked him to come home even once or his favorite sister Gogg- no Rajni, who he couldn’t meet or talk to, it was an escape route. To run from the love they gave him, to run from the guilt for he can’t reciprocate that love, to run from the past, to run from the promises he made under this sky, to run from the things he felt and vowed to never feel again, and most importantly to run from himself.

  
Let’s come to the present shall we, Aman is in London right now, has been here for almost 2 months. It is a cold Friday night today and Aman just got out of (read: freed himself from) a meeting in which the presenter, to his dismay, wouldn’t stop talking. He feels a bad headache coming as he massages his temples. He needs a drink, or two. Fuck that, after what he got through today, he deserves it.

  
His colleagues, Sophie and Aaron, have been his support since he started this job and have morphed into an intermediate between colleagues and friends. He won’t say friends because he doesn’t need those unnecessary feelings, thank you very much. Right now they are finding a cheap, “ Paisey nikalty nai teri jaib sey” a voice in the back of Aman’s mind, but he ignores it, like he ignores every important thing in his life but oh well where was it, ah cheap and good bar.

  
Sophie, the owner of the only braincell of the group, wearing a knee-length skirt and trying so hard for her legs to not freeze or worse, fall off, is so damn tired because her extremely intelligent friends don’t even feel cold after taking rounds of the same street for the third time, pushes the men to the first bar she finds.

  
The first thing she experiences is warmth and thanks all the figurines in her apartment for that, and then she notices all the lights, sees the blackboard with happy hour written on it, and puts her mental seal of approval. Secondly, she notices the poster of a performance today and moves her eyes to take a view of the stage and a Yamaha piano. It’s no coincidence that she’s a big fan of music. This is by far the best night ever, she thinks.

  
On the other hand, Aaron and Aman, after being pulled by the collars by the hands of a woman with superhuman powers, are trying their hardest to set their clothes. It’s going to be a long night; at least they should look good. Aaron on one hand, is eyeing women and men available for a drink, a conversation, and if he’s lucky, a good night. While Aman on the other hand, goes straight for the drinks, that’s what he’s here for, and god forbid if he wastes a single second not drinking.

  
They all have their plans in mind, but the thing about life is that it doesn’t go according to your plans. Aman just had his first beer, the lights starts to dim. Mind you, Aman is here just to drink, not to listen to some inexperienced youngster’s music, which instead of helping reduce his headache, will reverse the effects of copious amount of alcohol he’s planning to drink. “Well whatever I can still have a good drink, no matter how the night goes I’ll make do”.

  
As Aman is voicing his thoughts out, with his back to the stage, he hears notes of piano. His mind can’t help but divert his attention to the music. The dimly lit bar was quiet now, only the notes of piano filling every nook and cranny of the bar and people’s minds. The piano was soon accompanied by sounds of accordion and a violin, all fusing to provide a sensual music experience. Just as one would think the composition is complete and it couldn’t be perfected more, a voice starts to sing.

  
“ _Ek sawara sa ladka bawara sa_  
 _Ghussay mein pattay sa kaanpta sa_  
 _Jo mera zikr sunay bhool se bhi_  
 _Tarkeebon se dil ho dhaanpta sa_  
 _Wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_  
 _Wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna”_

Aman must be drunk right? He must be super drunk because he can’t believe his ears right now. His thoughts are going haywire as the singer continues to sing and play the piano. First of all the song is in hindi, no Aman you idiot it’s in English chutiye. Well secondly the voice is the one which he wanted to forget the most, no not because he hated it, on the contrary he loved it the most.

  
Aman wants to run, but he can’t move and he can’t breathe. The world seems to be caving on him. Was it one too many drinks, or his conscious and subconscious teeming up against him, no one knows. But one thing is sure; Aman cannot do a single thing right now like he couldn’t do a single thing before. He is helpless and spineless, times surely have changed but Aman did not. Unaware of Aman’s inner turmoil, the song still continues.

  
_“Dhoop mai palkon ko kass kay wo meechta_   
_Chalta ho_   
_Zindagi kay kash kahin khenchta_   
_Wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_   
_Haan wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna”_

  
Aman can’t take it anymore; he has to turn his back to see him and so he did. He saw it, the first drop of rain on his eternally dry forest. There he was; the light of his life, Kartik SIngh in all his glory. Aman cursed his eyes for their inability to move away from him, he bit his lip, stopping them from forming into a smile, the same smile he thought he lost, but found it again from the person that had taken it with his luggage on Aman’s “wedding”.

  
Unbeknownst to him, the eyes under the glasses looked at Aman, the reactions not too different. Yet he showed it in his notes, becoming aggressive by the second. He couldn’t believe, of all the places, he would find Aman here. Now if it was Kartik from a few years ago, he would leave his piano and run towards Aman and ask him questions that were his companion on most nights. But he has mellowed down; call it time, a successful career or him finally realizing his worth. When he finally decided to break the chains tying him, it wasn’t easy. He too had to work his ass off to be deemed as a musician and worthy member of the society (as people would say) and after all these years he truly has grown in all aspects.

  
But you see, what would you do if your heart calls out to the person in front of you. You can’t just shut it down, instead he depicts his anguish, his pain, his speech in the pride flag and the beating after that, to plead in front of his love to choose to fight and put his happiness above everything else, his inability to do that and him losing without even trying, his teary eyes and guilt and finally losing hope and leaving your love, yes you would put it in your music and sing, sing even with your emotions catching up your throat.

  
_“Thodi Thodi aankhien namm_   
_Baaton mai tha phir bhi dam_   
_Hassi nai thi woh aisi_   
_Joh baat mai yunhi udd jaaye_   
_Raat mein yunhi ghul jaaye_   
_na na na”_

  
Aman can’t listen to this without tearing up and Kartik can’t sing without emotions clogging up his throat. Aaron and Sophie while not understanding a single word of the song are quite moved so they pay no attention to a crying Aman who is one of the few audiences that can understand the lyrics. But they get surprised when the singer, a hot one, they both think starts singing off-key and looking like he might cry any second now.

  
_“Wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_   
_Haan wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_   
_Dhoop mein palkon ko kass kay wo meechta_   
_Chalta ho_   
_Zindagi kay kash kahin khenchta_   
_Wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_   
_Haan wo ladka mil jaaye tou kehna_   
_AAAAAAAAAAAAH”_

  
The song ends and everyone starts clapping for the performers, asking for another one. Kartik asks for a break so he could calm himself down, his team agrees to the break and the start to leave the stage. While his members choose to treat themselves for a drink, Kartik decides to go out for fresh air, totally not avoiding Aman Tripathi or anything. As he goes out, he feels his arm being pulled, he looks back to see Aman gripping his arm and stops him saying, “Aik baar jaanay diya, dubara yeh ghalti nai karun ga”.

  
“Off all the places, Issi bar mai hii reunion scene karna hai”, Kartik retorts while taking Aman outside with him.  
“Ab bol tu idhr kahan sy, Sunita nay aany diya?”, Kartik continued

  
“Sunita nai Kusum hai wo, aur nai”, Aman replied, reminiscing their old argument

  
“Tou Simran kay sath aaya hoga, mummy papa nay aanay kahan diya hoga”, Kartik couldn’t take this anymore, he just wanted to go inside and drink a bottle of strongest drink available here.

  
“Nai Kartik, nai hui meri shaadi aur Kusum hai uska naam”, it pained Aman to remember that but he had to clear his side and after all Kartik deserves an explanation.

  
“Nai hui teri shaadi, hawww Kyun”? Hiding behind the shield of humor is still one of the habits that remained with Kartik. The other being, loving Aman, but it isn’t a habit, is it?

  
“Bhaag gai thi wo apnay boyfriend kay sath”, Aman still remembers that day, the instant happiness followed by everlasting sadness as he realized he lost Kartik forever all for nothing.

  
“Tou teray mummy papa nai kisi aur abla nari kay sath nai lagaya tujhe”, Kartik remembers Aman being scared, not whatever this is and certainly never thought of meeting him in London. Let’s divert from the elephant in the room, he thought.

  
“Nai, London settle hogya hoon mai ab akelay” Aman replied. It’s completely fine for Kartik to be uncertain about that, he thought.

  
“Hawww such mai, mela chota sa baby itna bara hogya, akelay rehny lag gaya hai.” It wasn’t easy for Kartik to joke with Aman like this, as one would think. He looked at Aman’s crying face and all he wanted was to hug and kiss him and just assure him for life just like the old times. But he had to do that to make sure if Aman still had the same feelings for him.

  
“Mazaq mat kar Kartik, mujhe tujh se maafi mangni thi aur tujhe mazaq soojh rahay hain”, The guilt which Aman pushed down all these years started coming up and clogging every area of his body and mind.

  
“Maafi kyun, chor kay baagha tou mai tha”, Kartik remembers that , a hasty but necessary decision in his life, one of the few he took for himself, but still can’t think about it without feeling guilty.

  
“Par maine tujhe jaany kyun diya, sab masly mai dekha nai tu kitna hurt horha hai”, It was Aman’s fault through and thorough, why is Kartik taking that from him. He had sported the guilt like a sword through his heart all these years, it’s his and his only.

  
“Par-

  
Aman confessed, feeling liberated after each word, “Kartik mujhe khatam karny dey pehly. Mujhe maafi isliye maangni hai kyunki mai kamzoor tha, haalat kay neechay dabb gaya, tu kehta hai “meray liye tum kaafi ho” mai iss baat ko samajh hi nai paya aur jab samjha both dair ho chuki thi, kho diya tha maine tujhe, agly din court ki ruling aani thi, aur maine tujhe roka tak nai, iss baat ko soch kar din mai hazar dafa marta hun, tu bas maaf kardey mujhe, aur kuch nai chahiye tujh se”.

  
“But if I want something else from you”, Kartik couldn’t see this poor man fumbling over his words and apologizing for what not. Save me some grace, would you? Aman Tripathi.

  
Once again he wanted to kiss him to shut him up, he had never been angry at Aman, was forgiveness ever an option. But well forgive Kartik for wanting more than a kiss like a date or a relationship for that matter hmph.

  
“Huh, Kartik what”, Aman stilled, too busy in emptying out his heart in front of his love to notice Kartik’s expression. His mind provides, he’s asking me to leave him alone, isn’t he? Aman you can’t even properly apologize, what can you do then.

  
“Sab kuch bhool ja, water’s under the bridge, coffee pe jayega meray sath”, Kartik saw Aman’s agitated expression and decided to offer immediately.

  
“Coffee, as in a date?”, Aman was surprised, has he finally lost his mind or something. Why would Kartik ask him on a date.

  
“Nai charity karny ka shouk hai mujhe, date kay liye hi keh raha hun”, Kartik joked.

  
“Kartik are you sure?”, Aman still made it sure that it wasn’t his mind playing tricks.

  
“What, still not sure Aman Tripathi? I thought itny saal baad kuch aqal aayi hogi”, Kartik said, his voice raising a little.

  
“What? Oh no, no I’m totally out, I just thought you would be angry at me or something”, Good job Aman, he still thinks you’re still not fighting.

  
“Angry, angry hota tou date ka bolta? Chal jaana hai tou theek hai wrna mai andar jaun waisy hi sardi lag rahi hai”, Kartik started laughing, the effect Aman has on him, there were others, but they weren’t Aman, his mind supplies.

  
“ Tou phir Kartik Singh, I will go on a date with you, as long as you’ll have me”, Aman caught Kartik’s hand and mentally vows to never let it go.


End file.
